Sedina Tamakloe Attionu, a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MASLOC (Microfinance and Small Loans Centre) during the John Dramani Mahama administration, has been jailed to a prison term of 10 years by a High Court in Accra.
The court found Tamakloe Attionu, who was tried in absentia, guilty on 78 counts of causing financial loss to the state, stealing, conspiracy to steal, money laundering, and causing loss to public property in contravention of the public procurement law.
The former MASLOC boss’ woes began in 2017 after an investigation by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) showed fraudulent disbursements of funds during her reign.
She was accused of embezzling GHS3.19 million during their tenure at MASLOC and causing a deliberate financial loss of GHS1.97 million to the state. She was also accused of making unauthorised commitments, resulting in financial obligations totalling GHS61.74 million for the government.
Here is a breakdown of all the money she was accused of stealing or misappropri
ating:
1. Appropriating GHS500,000 of MASLOC funds for personal use after it was returned from a private microfinance company, Obaatanpa Micro-Finance Company Limited.
2. Withdrawing GHS1,816,000 in tranches after the MASLOC board approved GHS1,706,000 of MASLOC funds for a countrywide sensitization.
3. Out of the GHS1,816,000 for the sensitisation programme only GHS1,300 was spent on refreshments for some beneficiaries in the Volta, Greater-Accra, and Brong-Ahafo Regions with no programme taking place in the other regions.
4. Appropriating only GHS579,800 out of the sum of GHS1,465,035 meant for the victims of the Kantamanto Market fire disaster in 2013.
5. Procuring 150 Chevy Aveo Saloon at a unit cost of GHS74,495 ($18,883.39) instead of GHS47,346.93 ($12,009.91), 100 Chevy Sparklite at a unit cost of GHS65,095.00 ($16,500.63) instead of GHS35,918.37 ($9,104.77) and 33-seater Isuzu buses at a unit cost of GHS445,560 ($112,942.96), in 2013 without PPA approval.
6. Procuring 200 pieces of Samsung B310
mobile dual sim phones under a project called PINCO Project Market Survey at an inflated cost of GHS93,412 when the market value of the phones was GHS24,400, in 2016.
7. Authorising ex-gratia amounts of GHS135,592.33 and GHS82,218.76 for herself and her deputy respectively.
8. Paid herself and her deputy GHS28,445.94 and GHS27,486.62 respectively, purportedly in lieu of leave.
This is how John Mahama girl and fmr CEO of MASLOC Sedinam Attionu Tamaklo orchestrated with the then ndc government to steal over 90 million Ghana cedis.
????- She stole over 70 million cedis meant for Kantamanto fire victims in 2013.
????- She stole 650,000 cedis meant for a… pic.twitter.com/hFNLkaFw7Y
– Na?a K?a?? (@NanaKwame_off) April 17, 2024
Source: Ghana Web
